Capital
punishment, which is the legal punishment of death by the government for people
who have committed heinous crimes via methods such as electrocution,
decapitation and shooting, is not an old practice. In fact, evidence has shown
that death penalty practices date as far back as the Roman Empire. However, the
delicate issue of whether it is justifiable to kill a man for his crime is
still on-going and controversial. At this point in time, there are 58 countries
practicing capital punishment and 97 countries that have abolished it. However,
the words “death penalty”, “ capital punishment” still cause an uproar of
chaotic debates between opposing parties who feel so strongly in what they
stand for. So, on one end of the line, pro-capital punishment activist are
saying that capital punishment is needed for reason such as; crime deterrence,
extreme punishment, defeats the purpose of having a prison and vengeance.
Whereas, on the other end, anti-capital punishment extremists are saying that
capital punishment opens possibilities of convicting the wrong or innocent man,
it infringes a person’s right to live and lastly, that no one person, or a
group people, should be allowed or have the right, to play God.
There
are three main reasons for having prisons. The first reason is rehabilitate
convicts so that when they are released, they will not commit the same crimes
and hopefully, become upstanding members of society. The second purpose of a
prison is to protect innocent civilians in society. Thirdly, it is to punish
criminals for the crime they have committed. So, if the purpose of having a
prison is to prisons are to rehabilitate offenders who will eventually leave
prison, then, it is not a place for people who have received life-time sentence
in jail for they, will never have the opportunity to integrate with society
again. Therefore, keeping imprison a person in jail for life would be defeating
the purpose of having a prison.
As
an old saying goes, “you do the crime, you serve the time”. Nowadays, the time
served in jail by offenders for committing serious offences is becoming increasingly
shorter. Criminals are being sentenced to just 10 years of imprisonment for armed
robbery. Criminals no longer fear the consequences of punishment if they are
ware that they will not be ‘rewarded’ with a death sentence after having
committed a heinous crime. The purpose of punishment is to validate a person
for his/her wrongdoings; it has to be painful or unpleasant to the criminal. Severe
and effective punishment, such as capital punishment, deters crime and ensures
that citizens understand the message that the law must be obeyed. How can we stop
criminals from breaking the law if we do not fear the judicial system?
Singapore has one of
the lowest crime rates in the world. In
2011, according to the Strait Times, the crime rate in Singapore had reached its
lowest of only 606 crimes being recorded. The benefits of a country that follow
from a country where citizens fear the law are clearly in shown in Singapore where
people do not need walk in fear of being raped or murdered at night. Another
law that The Singaporean government has imposed is the approval capital
punishment on people accused of extremely serious crimes. According to the Ministry
of Home Affairs Singapore, in the case of drug trafficking, the death penalty
has deterred major syndicates from establishing themselves in Singapore ("Ministry
of Home Affairs - The Singapore Government's Response To Amnesty
International's Report "Singapore - The Death Penalty: A Hidden Toll Of
Executions"", n.d., p.1) and therefore, preventing further
chaos and social problems such as; theft, murder and suicide.
Another good example
would be New York, for more than two decades, New
York was without the death penalty. During this time, fear of crime was
compounded by the fact that, too often, it largely went unpunished. Nowadays in
New York, the death penalty has turned the tables on fear and put it back where
it belongs, in the hearts of criminals. Within just one year, the death penalty
helped produce a dramatic drop in violent crime. Just as important, it has
restored New Yorkers' confidence in the justice system because they know their
government genuinely is committed to their safety.
("Death penalty is a deterrent", n.d., p. 1)
Having
said this, I am not trying to say that all criminals should be killed. Instead,
I am saying that countries should death penalty as an option so as install fear
in people to not commit crimes and to prevent people who do not fear death but love
to engage in unspeakable criminal activities. This will act as crime deterrent
and bring safety.
From
the government’s perspective it is cheaper to imprison the criminal for life
then to go through the complex procedures of death penalty. In a study done in North Carolina, the
death penalty costs them $2.16 million more than a sentence of life
imprisonment without parole. In Texas, the death penalty costs around $2.3
million, nearly three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a maximum
security jail for forty years. The death penalty is causing government officials to lose
jobs, and most importantly, police to be removed from the streets. How can
crime be stopped if police does not watch over the streets? ("Part
II: Practical Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty", n.d., p. 1) Thus death
penalty should be abolished. Firstly, the money that the government uses to pay
for their death penalty comes from the citizens themselves. The money saved
from death penalties can be used to improve other aspects of the country such
as; infrastructure, healthcare and education. The cost of death penalties is causing
some countries so much money that the government has to charge increase tax.
The
religious, however, believe that by deciding who and when someone dies, we are
playing God and I do not believe that that is our choice to make. Who are we to
make that decision? We are all sinners; the only difference is that these criminals
have just sinned in a different way from us. They should just do ‘the time for
the crime’ and be sent to jail for life. By putting them in special, guarded
prison, there are no longer threats to society.
Some people may claim that they want their vengeance. I understand that families feel that the
death of the murderer who killed their loved one is the best form of revenge as
killing the murder, would be to do what he did to the upon himself and
therefore, bring help bring closure to everything. What they need to
know is life in prison can equally cause the same immense amount of pain and suffering
to the guilty. From having complete freedom to do as they please, these inmates
enter a world where they are completely deprived of any. They are in a realm of
torture; where being reprimanded or for any mistake they do and having to do exhausting
physical activities from dawn to dusk is a norm. All they see are the four
walls of their mundane looking prison, their sergeants and their equally gloomy
inmates. This probably the least desirable situation I would ever want to be
for the rest of my life. It is through this form of suffering that will repent
for their grave criminal offense. Therefore,
Many
who read this may still end up wondering if it is justifiable to kill a person
because of the serious crime they have committed. That is because this very
debatable issue and very susceptible to our various opinions. Every individual’s
life is important and we should not take death very lightly, for all we know,
it could just be anyone of us up for capital punishment? That is why it should
only be an option for people who commit really rare crimes; terrorism, child
rape of multiple occasions, serial killing etc. Yes the religious may say that
then, we are playing God this way but seeing how the benefits outweigh that
statement, we must have capital punishment as a mandatory option for the
greater good of society.
References
- 1. Death penalty is a deterrent. (n.d.). Pro-death penalty.com. Retrieved from http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/articles/pataki.htm
- 2. Ministry of Home Affairs - The Singapore Government's Response To Amnesty International's Report "Singapore - The Death Penalty: A Hidden Toll Of Executions". (n.d.). Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.mha.gov.sg/basic_content.aspx?pageid=74
- 3. Part II: Practical Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty. Retrieved from https://www.msu.edu/~millettf/DeathPenalty/practical.html
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